3.
How Little Do Users Read? <ul><li>Users spend 4.4 seconds for every extra 100 words on a page </li></ul><ul><li>On the average Web page, users have time to read at most 28% of the words during an average visit </li></ul>

7.
How to Employ Scannable Text <ul><li>one idea per paragraph (users will skip over any additional ideas if they are not caught by the first few words in the paragraph) </li></ul><ul><li>the inverted pyramid style, starting with the conclusion </li></ul><ul><li>half the word count (or less) than conventional writing </li></ul>

8.
Measuring the Effect of Improved Web Writing 0% (by definition) Nebraska is filled with internationally recognized attractions that draw large crowds of people every year, without fail. In 1996, some of the most popular places were Fort Robinson State Park (355,000 visitors), Scotts Bluff National Monument (132,166), Arbor Lodge State Historical Park & Museum (100,000), Carhenge (86,598), Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer (60,002), and Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park (28,446). Promotional writing (control condition) using the &quot;marketese&quot; found on many commercial websites Usability Improvement Sample Paragraph Site Version

9.
Measuring the Effect of Improved Web Writing 58% 58% In 1996, six of the best-attended attractions in Nebraska were Fort Robinson State Park, Scotts Bluff National Monument, Arbor Lodge State Historical Park & Museum, Carhenge , Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer, and Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park. Concise text with about half the word count as the control condition Usability Improvement Sample Paragraph Site Version

10.
Measuring the Effect of Improved Web Writing 47% <ul><li>Nebraska is filled with internationally recognized attractions that draw large crowds of people every year, without fail. In 1996, some of the most popular places were: </li></ul><ul><li>Fort Robinson State Park (355,000 visitors) </li></ul><ul><li>Scotts Bluff National Monument (132,166) </li></ul><ul><li>Arbor Lodge State Historical Park & Museum (100,000) </li></ul><ul><li>Carhenge (86,598) </li></ul><ul><li>Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer (60,002) </li></ul><ul><li>Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park (28,446) </li></ul>Scannable layout using the same text as the control condition in a layout that facilitated scanning Usability Improvement Sample Paragraph Site Version

11.
Measuring the Effect of Improved Web Writing 27% Nebraska has several attractions. In 1996, some of the most-visited places were Fort Robinson State Park (355,000 visitors), Scotts Bluff National Monument (132,166), Arbor Lodge State Historical Park & Museum (100,000), Carhenge (86,598), Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer (60,002), and Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park (28,446). Objective language using neutral rather than subjective, boastful, or exaggerated language (otherwise the same as the control condition) Usability Improvement Sample Paragraph Site Version

14.
How to Write Headlines <ul><li>Online headlines are often displayed out of context : as part of a list of articles , in an email program's list of incoming messages, in a search engine hitlist, or in a browser's bookmark menu or other navigation aid. </li></ul><ul><li>Harder for users to learn enough from the surrounding data . </li></ul>

15.
How to Write Headlines <ul><li>the headline text has to stand on its own and make sense when the rest of the content is not available. </li></ul><ul><li>Written in plain language : no puns, no &quot;cute&quot; or &quot;clever&quot; headlines </li></ul><ul><li>Make the first word an important, information-carrying one. Results in better position in alphabetized lists and facilitates scanning. For example, start with the name of the company, person, or concept discussed in an article. </li></ul>

16.
Examples <ul><li>Page title: Big Blue and Wall Street too </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Probably has something to do with investing in IBM, but people who don't know that nickname would be at a complete loss and would never be attracted to clicking on this headline. Even people who do realize that the story will be about IBM don't get told what's new or interesting in the article. </li></ul></ul>

17.
Examples <ul><li>Page title: Reading your PC </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Say again? What can this possibly be about? This is a real example (as are all the others) from a major U.S. newspaper. It probably worked fine in print, but not in a listing of headlines on a third-party website. </li></ul></ul>

18.
Examples <ul><li>Page title: Sound Card Competition Heats Up </li></ul><ul><ul><li>When shown on a computer-related site, this is a great headline. When placed out of context it may be better to add a qualifier: Sound Card Competition Increases in PC Market. Note that the page title will still work if the last part is chopped off in some listings. </li></ul></ul>

20.
Show Numbers as Numerals When Writing for Online Readers <ul><li>Numerals often stop the wandering eye and attract fixations </li></ul><ul><li>Why do users fixate on numerals? Because numbers represent facts , which is something users typically relish </li></ul>

21.
Traditional Writing Style (Spell out) <ul><li>whole numbers from one through ninety-nine </li></ul><ul><li>any of these numbers &quot;followed by hundred, thousand, hundred thousand, million, and so on;&quot; </li></ul><ul><li>round numbers </li></ul><ul><li>very big numbers (millions, billions, etc.) </li></ul><ul><li>numbers that appear as the first word in a sentence. </li></ul>

22.
Writing for the Web <ul><li>Write numbers with digits, not letters (23, not twenty-three) </li></ul><ul><li>Use numerals even when the number is the first word in a sentence or bullet point </li></ul><ul><li>Use numerals for big numbers up to one billon </li></ul>

23.
Writing for the Web <ul><li>2,000,000 is better than two million </li></ul><ul><li>Two trillion is better than 2,000,000,000,000 because most people can't interpret that many zeros </li></ul><ul><li>As a compromise, you can often use numerals for the significant digits and write out the magnitude as a word. For example, write 24 billion (not twenty-four billion or 24,000,000,000) </li></ul>

24.
Writing for the Web <ul><li>Spell out numbers that don't represent specific facts </li></ul><ul><li>If I say something like &quot;in recent years, we have tested thousands of users and seen their use of breadcrumbs increase ,&quot; it's better to write &quot;thousands&quot; as a word than to write &quot;1,000s&quot; or something like that. &quot;Thousands&quot; is not really data in this context, it's intended to give an idea of the scope of the research. </li></ul>

25.
Inverted Pyramids in Cyberspace <ul><li>start the article by telling the reader the conclusion (&quot;After long debate, the Assembly voted to increase state taxes by 10 percent&quot;), follow by the most important supporting information, and end by giving the background </li></ul>

26.
Inverted Pyramids in Cyberspace <ul><li>link to full background materials and to construct digests of links to multiple treatments of an issue </li></ul><ul><li>This means that writers can link to old articles instead of having to summarize background information in every article </li></ul>